Charisma recycles 2004 article, gets lots of attention, then goes away. Alan, at the beach, knows nothing about it

Charisma Magazine generated an internet thunderstorm today by updating and reprinting a 2004 article by Alan Chambers titled, Do We Want a Gay America? Charisma put it on the front page of their webpage with no notice that it was a reprint.

RightWingWatch (who has the article in full) picked up on it and then various gay blogs followed. I started seeing emails and tweets about two hours ago. Then ExGayWatch and BoxTurtleBulletin reported that the article was a reprint. BTB editor Jim Burroway just tweeted that a woman at Charisma told him they were looking into it.

Meanwhile, Alan Chambers tweeted that he was at the beach and didn’t know anything about it, saying

Breaking: No idea why @charismamag pulled out an 8 year old piece I wrote that doesn’t reflect my current views.

Charisma has blocked access to the article.

All of that in a matter of hours. I would say Charisma has got some explaining to do.

UPDATE: Alan just sent this note along:

I am on the beach, literally, with my family enjoying the dog days of summer.  I have no idea why Charisma decided to reach so deep, edit and republish an 8 year old article that I am embarrassed that I ever wrote.  Our PR team has asked them to remove the article and not to repost it.  When I am back in town I will contact them, as well.

4 thoughts on “Charisma recycles 2004 article, gets lots of attention, then goes away. Alan, at the beach, knows nothing about it”

  1. Very disturbing, indeed. Yes, Michael, Charisma needs to do exactly what you’ve pointed out.

    I do think, however, there’s some other important stuff happening in the last couple of days: Nicolosi’s admission that ‘he doesn’t cure gay’s’ … and, that gays will always have some level of same-sex attraction. Why is that flying under the radar? This is a huge disclosure from the chief advocate of Reparative Therapy.

    Also, John Paulk’s recent story … perhaps, a pending divorce; perhaps, dating a man and being seen at homosexual establishments.

    The whole ‘change’ world seems to be imploding.

  2. I strongly encourage your readers to review the entire article. It’s pretty disgusting and I can understand why Alan is ashamed of it. Scott Lively has written tamer stuff.

    Yes, Alan wrote it 8 years ago, but he never retracted it. Today, Charisma took advantage of Alan’s mistake. Let’s not forget that Alan DID write it and he DID believe it.

    I don’t think it’s enough to say, “Sorry about the confusion”. Alan needs to explain why he no longer believes those things — point by point — and then ask Charisma to print it.

    And of course, Charisma magazine owes the public (and Alan) a full explanation, retraction and apology.

  3. Very disturbing, indeed. Yes, Michael, Charisma needs to do exactly what you’ve pointed out.

    I do think, however, there’s some other important stuff happening in the last couple of days: Nicolosi’s admission that ‘he doesn’t cure gay’s’ … and, that gays will always have some level of same-sex attraction. Why is that flying under the radar? This is a huge disclosure from the chief advocate of Reparative Therapy.

    Also, John Paulk’s recent story … perhaps, a pending divorce; perhaps, dating a man and being seen at homosexual establishments.

    The whole ‘change’ world seems to be imploding.

  4. I strongly encourage your readers to review the entire article. It’s pretty disgusting and I can understand why Alan is ashamed of it. Scott Lively has written tamer stuff.

    Yes, Alan wrote it 8 years ago, but he never retracted it. Today, Charisma took advantage of Alan’s mistake. Let’s not forget that Alan DID write it and he DID believe it.

    I don’t think it’s enough to say, “Sorry about the confusion”. Alan needs to explain why he no longer believes those things — point by point — and then ask Charisma to print it.

    And of course, Charisma magazine owes the public (and Alan) a full explanation, retraction and apology.

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